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Monday, May 31, 2010

This is a great dish for potlucks and BBQs. It’s light and full of flavor. I found that people who don’t typically like couscous still love this dish. The couscous is more like little pasta balls than the traditional grainy couscous.

Cook fettuccine, following directions on box. Grill salmon until it’s cooked all the way through (about 10-13 minutes). Poke with a fork. If it flakes easily, it's done. Don't over cook. You want it a little pink in the middle.

Heat EVOO in a skillet. Sauté peppers in pan until soft. Add garlic and artichokes towards the end, sauté for 1-2 more minutes.

Drain pasta, mix with pesto sauce.

Plate salmon with fettuccine, top with peppers and artichokes. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

This is an easy recipe that was super tasty! Perfect for a summer dinner. I always put Ben in charge of the grilling and I take care of the chopping and the stove top. Ben also came up with the name of the rice!

Heat EVOO in a skillet. Sauté zucchini and onion for a few minutes until onion is translucent. Add salt to taste.

Once rice is done add artichoke hearts and olives, and sautéed zucchini and onions.

Once steak if finished grilling, plate with rice.

Note: Use the “touch test” to cook your steak. Touch the middle of your steak with your finger, if it’s soft like your cheek, it’s medium rare; if it’s more firm like the tip of your nose, it’s medium; if it’s hard like your forehead, it’s well done.

Monday, May 24, 2010

I found this awesome recipe in this month’s issue of Food & Wine and modified it slightly. It has introduced me to cooking with meat from sausage links. It’s so quick and easy to do. The meat is already seasoned, and from my experience so far, stays really moist (if you don’t overcook it, of course).

Using wet hands, make patties out of sausage. Brush both sides of patties with EVOO. Grill patties over medium heat, about 5 minutes on each side. After flipping burger, top with cheese. Add buns to grill to toast.

Heat EVOO in skillet, add spinach. Sauté until almost wilted, then add garlic. Sauté for a few minutes until garlic is translucent. Set aside.

Mix mayo, pesto and sun-dried tomato. Spread pesto on rolls, when they are done toasting. Top burgers with spinach and red onions. Serve with cucumber slices.

Note: If you want more garlic flavor, add garlic at the end of cooking the spinach, like I did. If you want less garlic flavor, sauté the garlic first and then sauté spinach.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

I first made this Double Broccoli Quinoa recipe (http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/double-broccoli-quinoa-recipe.html) the night before, so I had broccoli pesto left over and decided to use the left overs this way. The recipe below includes the whole amount for the Double Broccoli Quinoa recipe, but I only used half the pesto for the recipe below.

Steam broccoli by putting broccoli in a shallow bowl with ½ inch of water, cover with Saran wrap and microwave on high for 3 minutes. Uncover and drain excess water.

To make the broccoli pesto puree two cups of the cooked broccoli, the garlic, 1/2 cup of the almonds, Parmesan, salt, and lemon juice in a food processor. Drizzle in the olive oil and cream and pulse until smooth.

Make Alfredo sauce according to package (cup of milk and cheese powder). Add broccoli pesto puree to Alfredo sauce and mix together.

Cook pasta according to directions. I used Ditalini and/or Farfalle.

Heat butter and garlic in a hot frying pan. Sauté shrimp for 3 minutes. No longer, otherwise this will make them rubbery.

Drain pasta and mix with broccoli pesto and Alfredo combo sauce. Top with shrimp, parmesan and pepper.